General Assembly in Warsaw (November 2014)

Warsaw hosted the inauguration of the Permanent Secretariat for Cooperation among China, Central and Eastern European Countries (CEE). “Never before, has the relationship between China and Poland as well as China and Central and Eastern Europe been so advanced”, argued Mr. Sławomir Majman, President of Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ).

“All countries of CEE are interested in increasing investment inflow from China. We welcome especially projects that create new jobs and new technologies as well as those which increase the innovative potential of our region”, said deputy prime minister Janusz Piechociński.

Representatives of 16 CEE investment agencies and Chinese one agreed that the establishment of the Secretariat will lead to the increase of the inflow of Chinese investment to Europe. “We expect that in few years the total value of Chinese investments will reach $500m there”, said Liu Dianxun, director of CIPA. He also declared that the Chinese government supports and encourages domestic business to invest in this European region.

The establishment of the Secretariat for Cooperation between China and Central Easter Europe Countries is the next step of so-called the “Warsaw Initiative” that was introduced in April 2012 during the visit of recent Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao to Poland. One of the highlight of the visit was a creation of frameworks of the future cooperation between China and 16 countries of the CEE region. While the decision regarding the arrangement of the Secretariat’s founding meeting in Warsaw was made in September 2014 in Xiamen, China, during the congress of investment promotion agencies of China in CEE.